Automatic cutting and beveling apparatus.



G. H. LEWIS. I AUTOMATIE) CUTTING AND BEVELING APPARATUS.

. APPLICATION FHED FEB 27.19M- 1,289A85,

Patented Dec. 31, 1916.

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G. H. LEWIS. AUTOMATIC CUTTING AND BEVELING APPARATUS. v

. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 27. IBM.

1,289-,%85. Patented Dec. 31, 1918.

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WITNESSES GEORGE H. LEWIS, OF CHICOFEE FALLS, FEASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORTO THE FISK RUBBER COMPANY, OF CHICOPEE FALLS, MASSACHUSETTS, ACORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

AUTOMATIC CUTTING AND BEVELING APPARATUS.

Application filed February 27, 1917. Serial No. 151,360.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE H. LEWIS, acitizen of the United States of America, residing at Chicopee Falls, inthe county or Hanipden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certainnew and useful Improve ments in Automatic Cutting and BevelingApparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to cutting devices for forming and bevelingstrips from calenders, for example, and more particularly to devices ofthis character which operate not only to slit a web into a plurality ofstrips during a calendering operation, but at the same time bevel theedges of the strips.

The invention may be applied generally wherever it is desired tosub-divide a web into a. plurality of ribbon-like strips having bevelededges. An example of one specific use to which the invention may be putis found in the rubber tire making art. Here, it is frequently desirableto build up the tread portion of the shoe with a circumferentiallydisposed strip of rubber stock to obtain an increased thickness over theremaining portions of the shoe. Particularly, these strips are so usedwhen the tread portion of' the shoe is requiredto be of difi'erentmaterial or of a different color than the material used for the body ofthe tire. In using such strips in the formation of a tire shoe, theedges are preferably beveled so as to gradually taper down into a thinedge to meet the body of the shoe.

Heretofore, rubber stock, rolled out by the calenders into a web, hasbeen automatically slit into strips, but the beveling has been done byhand. Hand beveling requires the services of skilled operators, and theoperation is slow and tedious and consequently expensive.

' This invention has for its main object to provide means forautomatically beveling the strips as they are slit from the web.

Another object of the invention is to provide a slitting and bevelingattachment for calenders, comprising, a plurality of pivotally mountedcutting knives arranged in pairsa'nd adapted to engage the web on thecalender roll to slit it, the cutting edge of each pair of knives beingoppositely turned to converge toward the web, whereby'the Specificationof Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 31,1918.

portions of the web between adjacent knives of successive pairs areformed with beveled edges.

Another object of the invention is ,to provide a cutting attachment forcalenders which includes a plurality of sleeves laterally adjustable ona support arranged parallel with the calender roll and a pair of cuttingknives pivotally-supportedjor independent movement on the sleeve andrestrained from axial movement relative to the latter, the cutting edgesof the knives of each pair being turned to converge inwardly toward theroll.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following descriptionand in the appended claim. I

The invention, in aform at present preferred, is shown for illustrativepurposes in the accompanying drawings in which- Figure l is a crosssectional view showing the beveling attachment in working engage mentwith a calender roll; L Fig. 2 is a partial elevation taken on thelineiZ-Z of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4: is a sectional plan view on the line H of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a knife holding arm;

Figs. 6 and 7 are plan and elevational views, respectively, ofamodification in the knife blade; and 3 Fig. 8 is a perspective view of astrip formed by the beveling attachment.

Referring to these drawings in detail, a represents a portion of acalender roll, and I) is a web of material, such as rubber stock, forexample, which has been rolled out between other calender rolls (notshown) and is about to leave the calender from the lower peripheralportion of roll a. The latter is suitably journaled in a pair of spacedside frames 0 (one only being shown in Fig. 1) in the usual and nowwell-known manner. Attached to frames 0 are two spaced brackets 11 (oneonly of which is shown) and fixed in and extending between the bracketsis a rod 10 which in the embodiment illustrated is of roundcross-sectional shape. A key 11 is fixed in rod 10, as shown in Figs. 1and 2, and slidable on the rod and held from rotative movement by key 11are a plurality of sleeves 12. Each sleeve 12 has at one end a flangedhead 13 and threaded into the latter is a thumb-screw 14 by means ofwhich the sleeve may be held in its various positions of adjustment onrod 10. The other end of sleeve 12 is threaded (see Fig. 2) to receivean interiorly threaded collar 15 which may be fixed in the desired axialposition on the sleeve by a set screw 16.

Loosely mounted on each sleeve 12 and held against axial displacement byhead i and collar 15 are a pair of arms 17 which are bent intosubstantially the shape shown in Fig. 5. As shown in Fig. 2, the twoarms 17 on each sleeve :12 are bent in opposite directions to divergeoutwardly from the sleeve. Furthermore, the upper ends of the two armsof a pair are twisted, as shown in Fig. 3, so that the adjacent facesthereof, are arranged in diverging relation with respect to roll a.Fixed to the outer face of each arm) adjacent its upper end is a blade 8WlllClT-lS clamped to the arm by a strap plate 19 and bolts 20.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 3, the ends of the two blades 18 of each pairare bent inwardly toward one another so that they converge toward rolla. A circular knife 21' is clamped to the outer face of each blade 18near the end thereof by a stud 22 threaded into the blade. The knives 21are not in tended to rotate on stud 20 but, as shown, are so mounted asto permit rotative adjustment thereon from time to time to present newcutting edges to roll at. Although the circular knife is preferred onaccount of its adjustability and consequently increased period of useavailable before sharpening is required, .it is not essential that thisform of knife be employed. Other knives may be used as desired. ample, astraight blade 23 (see Figs. 6 and 7) may be substituted for the blade18 and mounted in a similar manner on arm 17. The end of this blade isground to a knife edge as indicated at 2 1 and bent at an angle to theblade, best shown in Fig. 6.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated, the radial distance fromthe cutting edge of each knife to the center of rod 1:9, is made greaterthan the shortest distance frbm the center of the rod to the peripheryof roll a. By this arrangement, each knife may be forced toward the rollby the action of gravity, and, as-the roll a is rotatable in thedirection of the arrow shown in Fig. 1, the pressure of the knives onthe roll is in creased by the dragging action ofthe web I).

.The described means for forcing the; knives against roll {L is not,however, anessential feature of this invention, and other means may beemployed as desired,- such the means disclosed in my copendingapplication Serial No. 1,151,359 filed Feb. 27, 1917, for

For exexample, or any other suitable means. The arrangement hereindisclosed is, however, of particular advantage in that no springs orlike devices are necessary to obtain the desired knife pressure.Consequently, each knife may be quickly and conveniently brought into orremoved from operative engagement with roll a. lVhen a knife is to betaken out of action, for example, its arm 17 I is swung in a clockwisedirection (as viewed in Fig. 1) away from the roll and is held bygravity in an inoperative position, depending substantially verticallyfrom rod 10.

It will benoted from Fig. 3 that the adjacent cutting edges of each pairof knives 21 are substantially normal to roll a while the other facesare at an angle 6 to the roll. Thus, as the latter rotates, the web 6 isslit into a plurality of strips 7) and b by cuts of the shape shown inFig. a. lhe strips Z) are formed between the adjacent knives ofsuccessive pairs of knives, as shown in Fig. 3, with the result that theedges of the strip are oppositely beveled at an angle 0 to the face ofthe strip. The finished strip 6 is shown in Fig. 3. The Strips-b formedbetween the twodrnives of a'pair, have substantially square edges andare not utilized as a product of the machine. The strips 5*, after beingremoved from roll 0-, are thrown into the calender rolls along withother rub ber stock to aid in the production of web 71 sothat thesestrips are not a material waste. They are, llOVnVQI', made as narrow inwidth as possible to. increase the out put of a calender of given width.

The width of stri offsetting arms 17, as described, but the peculiarshape of the latte! is resorted to in order that the adjacent knives ofsuccessive pairs of knives may be brought into close relation. and thisis the important criterion L is increased by to which the width ofstrips is subordinate. It will be seen that, due to the bending of arms17 in the described manner, the adjacent knives on adjacent sleeves 12may be brought together untilthe rearedges of the knives almost touch sothat strips of very narrow width may be formed.

The structure herein described is characterized by accomplishingautomatically, by relatively simple means, the slitting of a web ofrubber stock into strips and the simultaneous beveling of the edges ofthe strips accurately and uniformly at a predetermined angle. The knivesact upon a continuous web immediately after it has been drawn out to thedesired thickness, so that abor is not essential to the machine, and,the

, the matherniore, skilled l the operation of knives having once beenadjusted chine may be successfully operators.

Thus, an efficient, slitting, and beveling' device has been providedwhich adapted for use with calenders to form from a continuous Web aseries of strips, the edges of which are beveled in an accurate anduniform manner. The invention has been described in a preferred form forillustrative purposes, but the scope of the invention is defined by theappended claim rather than L5 by the foregoing description.

What I claim 1s The combination in a machine for calendering Webs ofrubber and the like, of a roll run by unskilled eel-es 1 3% over whichthe web is passed,'a rod mounted in parallel and adjacent relation withsaid roll, a series of members mounted for axial adjustment on the rod,and a plurality of cutting knives to engage the Web on said roll, saidknives being arranged in pairs and each pair being mounted in constantlyspaced relation and for imlepcndent pivotal movement on a member, thecutting edges of the knives of each pair being so turned to convergetoward said roll, whereby a plurality of strips of variable width andhaving oppositely beveled edges may be formed between the adjacentknives of successive pairs and the strips formed between the knives ofeach pair may be maintained of constant Width.

GEORGE H. LEWIS,

